The Flags of the Seasons were part of the secret society paraphernalia that was used during a Tiandihiu initiation ceremony. The flag shown is ‘xia’ or the summer. Apart from summer, there were four more flags within the collection, namely, ‘chun’ or spring, ‘qui’ or autumn, ‘dong’ or winter, and ‘ji’ representing all the seasons. These flags, except for the flags of autumn and winter, are part of the William Stirling Collection. William George Stirling was the Assistant Protector of Chinese in Singapore from 1921 to 1931.
